Getting NCLB “right” will require spreading the word about the problems with the federal education law and generating member support for improving it. Those are the goals of “NCLB—Let’s Get It Right,” a national education and advocacy campaign launched by the AFT in May. The campaign includes extensive radio and print advertising and a coordinated mobilization of AFT members at the national and grass-roots levels.

“The stakes are too high. We can’t wait for the 2007 reauthorization of this law to begin talking about how to fix it,” AFT president Edward J. McElroy says. “The problems with NCLB go far beyond its deplorable underfunding, and we are serious about getting NCLB right.”

Most AFT members polled last year favor fixing NCLB rather than eliminating the federal law. However, AFT members have expressed considerable frustration with NCLB—particularly its “adequate yearly progress,” or AYP, provision. Under AYP, a growing number of schools that have shown encouraging academic progress are being incorrectly labeled as “failing” and are facing sanctions at the very time they could benefit most from additional support.

Commenting on AFT’s campaign, the first phase of which focuses on AYP, AFT executive vice president Antonia Cortese says, “Progress should be measured through a fair and valid process. AYP doesn’t do that.  In fact, the “P” in AYP doesn’t really measure progress. That’s why it must be fixed.”

The AFT is encouraging members to write letters to Congress and is helping to coordinate visits with congressional representatives in their home districts. As a longstanding supporter of greater accountability, higher standards of learning and the underlying goals of NCLB, the AFT plans to work with Congress and other elected officials to help improve the law.

The “NCLB—Let’s Get It Right” section of the AFT Web site, www.aft.org/topics/nclb/index.htm, links to numerous research reports on NCLB and provides concrete information within four separate areas of the law:  AYP, staff quality, school improvement and funding.